Compact and Robust Medium Wind Turbine (CART)

28.07.2017 11:55:00 by Klaus Würthele (comments: 0)

The objective of this project is the development of a novel product - the so-called Compact and Robust Medium Wind Turbine (CART) - for threshold economies and developing nations. In concrete terms, this means the development of a stall-controlled wind turbine with an output capacity of c. 200 kW (whereby “stall” refers to an airflow interruption at a given airfoil profile).

Depending on the field of application, the system needs to be able to operate on or offshore coastal regions. Rather than using a solid foundation structure for offshore deployments, the goal is to use a floating foundation in conjunction with a heavy anchor. This will dispense with the need for installation ships and pile driving works, which are not even usually available in the target countries, which represents an enormous potential saving.

In addition, the project is focussed on the development of an energy storage system, to enable the isolated operation of the system. The entire development will comply with standards published by the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in 2015 as well as other applicable international standards, so that the system can be certified as a whole which will ensure that it can be readily commercialised. The objective is to develop a system that can be installed in remote or underdeveloped regions.

Therefore, the primary development is to make the entire system, consisting of the wind turbines, substructure/foundations (on and offshore) and energy storage system, extremely robust and easy to manage. We have access to a thorough knowledge of the relevant state-of-the-art technology in relation to individual components. Another focal point of the project is to adapt the individual components for use in a robust and highly functional overall system.